What did you die for, soldier?

This poem is a tribute to Col MN Rai of the Indian Army, and thousands of others soldiers who die around the world, hopefully believing a worthy cause. Col Rai’s daughter bid him farewell with the battle cry of his regiment. It made me wonder, will she grow up wanting revenge, or peace?

What did you die for, soldier?

Was it for your daughter

Who bid you farewell

With the battle cry of your regiment?

Was it for your fellow soldiers

Who responded to your daughter’s cry

And stood with her in solidarity?

Was it for the country

That decorated you with a medal

For guarding its borders?

Was it for me

A citizen you never knew,

Who wonders where her loyalties lie?

Am I disloyal to you soldier,

If I have friends across the border

And whose children are dear to me as my own?

Am I disrespecting you soldier,

For sharing a dream with these friends

For a borderless world?

I applaud your commitment soldier

But forgive me, I do not understand

What you were committed to.

Was it for a concept called India

Or against an idea called Pakistan?

I am proud of the land I come from

I am grateful to the Earth and her resources here

For making us who we are.

I am a product of the people of this land,

Cradled in its culture and nurtured in its values.

I am proud to claim my Indianness.

But forgive me, soldier

If my Indianness does not reject other identities.

I am sorry, soldier

But my loyalties do not lie

With two governments keeping a war alive

For reasons I cannot comprehend.

Did you die for the India in me, soldier

Or for the idea of India that is at war

Against a concept called Pakistan?

Countries are but notions

We created to embody ideas we reject in us

Are we a race that glorifies killing each other

Over mere ideas we do not accept?

I have a conundrum in me and no answers

But I pray that you rest in peace, soldier.

I hope, in your death,

You have given life to an idea of peace

In your daughter who cries for you.

I hope she learns to overcome

The idea of borders that killed you.